


Matters of Blood and Connection (or my fist to your face)

by sips



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-30
Updated: 2015-04-06
Packaged: 2018-03-20 09:20:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3645024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sips/pseuds/sips
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From a feed the bunny prompt: I was unaware that there was an organized zombie crawl going on and I didn't realize you were in a costume and I screamed in your face because I truly thought I was facing a zombie invasion</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sugar, We're Going Down Swinging

**Author's Note:**

> Haven't written anything in...years and never wrote fanfic period so the syntax might get messy and there will undoubtedly be moments of unintentional ooc-ness (and definitely bits of intentional ooc).

It’s 9:17pm and Laura Hollis is just now leaving the dance studio on 19th street. She has five minutes to get across Union Square to catch her train. Sure, the train comes every four minutes, but she was already running late. She really would have needed to be on the 8:58pm if she had any hope of meeting Laf in time.

A glance at the illuminated screen of her phone told her she was down to three minutes. She lifted her eyes back to the path in front of her in just enough time to stop herself from slamming into a pale girl. A very pale girl with black hair that fell below her shoulders in tangles. She was mumbling out an apology when she noticed smears of what looked alarmingly similar to blood smeared around the girl’s mouth.

There wasn’t enough time to process her shock and confusion before the bloodied stranger lurched closer towards her with arms outstretched, one leg trailing listlessly behind her slightly contorted body. Laura reeled backwards and noticed a similarly disheveled person shuffling around about three meters to her left. The girl in front of her stumbled forward, closing the small gap Laura had just put between them. She was groaning incoherently and Laura just now noticed that what she presumed was blood was dripping down her chin. The whole front of the girl’s shirt was soaked through with a deep brownish red. A high pitched screech pierced the thick summer air. Suddenly the blood stained girl was reeling backwards.

“Jesus fuck!” 

Laura stood frozen in place for a moment, her whole face was wide open in shock as she stared down at the girl who was now pressing an open palm to her bloodied mouth.

“Oh my god, shit! I’m so sorry! Ahh, let me…” She had crouched down to help the girl up when the stranger slowly pulled herself up into a sort of half sitting position. 

“What the fuck is your problem?! Fucking hell”

The dark haired girl turned her head to the side and spit out a mouthful of blood before bringing her hand back up to swipe at her split lip. Laura was still leaning down and was now closely inspecting the stranger’s broken face. There was a new smear of red trailing down from the girl’s lips now.

“I just. I. I thought. I saw…And you were. There’s the blood. And the moaning. You were. And I. I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO EAT ME!” She had risen from her crouched position in front of the girl and had taken a few steps back, arms flailing a bit as she got increasing flustered trying to explain herself.

“And so the logical decision is to punch me in the GOD DAMN TEETH?!” The girl turned her head again to spit more blood onto the pavement. She ran her tongue over her teeth, checking to make sure they were all still in place. Her fingers pressed firmly over her mouth, trying to both stanch the bleeding and stop the throbbing pain that was spreading over the lower portion of her face.  
“I just…It was a reflex. I’m sorry! I just thought. Uuuughh! Why the hell were you staggering around like a member of the undead anyway?! What kind of person thinks it’s a good idea to act out some zombie apocalypse in the middle of Union Square?!”

“Are you really going to blame me for getting punched in the face?”

Laura had stooped over the girl again, once more looking at the damage done to her face. It was hard to tell what was real blood and what had been painted on before the unfortunate meeting of fist to face.

“No. It’s just, what the hell were you doing coming at someone like that?! What was I supposed to do?”

“That sounds an awful lot like BLAMING ME FOR GETTING PUNCHED IN THE FACE sweetheart”

Laura rolled her eyes at the girl’s indignant response and briefly glanced at the phone that was still clutched in her hand. 9:25pm. She was going to be so late.

“Oh, don’t let me keep you. You _obviously_ have somewhere very important to be. Please, leave me to bleed. Out of my mouth wound. In peace. My mouth wound that _you_ gave me.”

“Oh my god. I SAID I WAS SORRY!” Laura huffed at the girl before reaching a hand out, palm up. The girl eyed it suspiciously.

“There’s a cafe across the street, you should probably put some ice on that.”

The girl hesitated a second before grasping the outstretched hand and letting herself be hoisted up onto her feet. 

 

A bell jingled as Laura pushed her way into the harsh diner lighting. The dark haired stranger followed two steps behind her. She was about to make her way over to the counter when a tall woman with a vaguely eastern european accent stopped her.

“Would you like a booth or would you be preferring to sit at the counter?” 

“Oh, well, I was actually just hoping I could get some ice please?”

“We’ll take a booth” The bloodied girl had pushed her way in front of Laura and was now following the hostess to a padded booth near the window. Laura stood in place for a moment, debating if she should dispute the stranger’s request to be seated. She let out a short huff before trudging along to take the seat opposite the pale girl. 

“I’m sure they would have just given us a bag of ice or something at the counter. There’s really no need for us to take up a booth.”

“Maybe I’m hungry. If you’re going to go all million dollar baby on someone the very _least_ you can do is to buy them some dinner.”

“Really? I remember you coming after me out there. Not to mention how presumptuous you’re being. Just because you can spend your evening staggering around the park like some raging lunatic doesn’t mean I have nothing better to do with my time.” Laura glances down at her phone again. 9:33pm

“And what is it that’s got you shivering with anticipation Rocky?”

Laura’s gaze snaps up from her phone and she narrows her eyes at the girl across from her. “I hardly think it’s any of your business what I may or may not be doing tonight. I don’t even know your name.”

“Carmilla.”

Laura continues to stare across the table for a moment, taking in Carmilla’s features that are now illuminated by the bright light that hangs overhead between them. Her lip was already quite swollen and it was slightly easier to make out the real blood that trailed down her chin. She was…a mess. But looking closely now, Laura could tell the girl was quite beautiful beneath the blood and smeared makeup.

“I was serious about that ice. Your face is already looking kind of…puffy.”

“Compliments to you Ali. Where did you learn to hit like that anyway? You’re all of what 5 feet?”

Laura scrunched up her face in indignation. “You’re one to talk! You’re like an inch taller than me!” “And I’m five two,” she adds on quietly with a grumble.

Carmilla rolls her eyes with a “Whatever, Tyson”

Laura slides out of the seat and starts towards the bathroom, turning to look back at Carmilla from over her shoulder as she beckons her to follow. Carmilla pushes herself out from the booth and walks to join Laura. It’s a single stall and she finds Laura waiting at the sink.

“Moving a little quick aren’t we? I thought you were going to buy me dinner first.” Carmilla’s eyebrows lift up towards her hairline and a sly smirk breaks across her face. Even with the split lip Laura can’t help but find it disturbingly attractive. She doesn’t play into Carmilla’s advances though and instead wrinkles her face in annoyance.

“Ugh, will you just get over here and stand still so I can clean your face off. I can’t sit across from someone covered in blood and…grime.” Her face wrinkles with disgust as she traces her eyes up and down Carmilla’s body. “I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do about the shirt, but at least clean your face off.”

Carmilla grudgingly obliges and saunters over to the sink, stopping entirely too close to the tiny blonde. She doesn’t even try to hide the grin that comes across her face upon seeing how flustered Laura gets by their close proximity. The grin only widens as a tiny hand reaches up to gently wipe at the dried blood on her lips.

“Actually, you know what, I think you’re probably perfectly capable of doing this yourself. So I’m going to let you do that. On your own. Because I don’t have to be here. So yea, I’m going to leave. I’ll be…I’m just going to wait back at the booth.” Laura hands off the wet paper towel she had been using to clean up the blood and scurries out of the bathroom, leaving Carmilla and her smug grin behind.

When Carmilla returns to the booth she finds a plastic bag of ice and a chocolate milkshake sitting on the table. Laura is halfway through what looks like a giant red velvet cupcake.

“The waitress came back and I didn’t know what to get you. I thought a milkshake might help…numb things maybe.”

Carmilla sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and gave a short nod. Laura peered down in her lap once again, screwing up her face in concentration as she looked at the screen of her phone.

“Ok, seriously, what is so…” Carmilla was interrupted by the sudden blaring of ‘Y’all gon make me lose my mind. Up in’ The music was quickly cut off as Laura answered the phone. She glanced up at Carmilla with an apologetic expression and raised her hand up signaling that she needed a minute.

“Hey Laf! I’m so sorry, I know I’m late.”  
…  
“Yea, I got caught up with something.”  
…  
“No, I’m not with Danny.”  
…  
“It’s…Well, it’s kind of a long story. I can’t really talk right now though. I’ll explain later?”  
…  
“I’m sooooo sorry Laf. I promise I’ll make it up to you.”  
…  
“You’re the best. Sorry again!…Ok…yea…I’ll see you later!”

Laura pocketed the phone again and looked up at Carmilla who had been busying herself by picking at a tear in the vinyl fabric of the booth. 

“I wouldn’t have pegged you as a DMX fan.”

“Oh, that, yea it’s kind of a joke.”

Carmilla was holding her gaze and Laura started to feel uncomfortable under the intense stare of her dark brown eyes. She started squirming a bit in her seat, suddenly becoming very interested by crumbs on her plate.

“Look, if you had plans tonight, don’t let me keep you, cupcake.”

Laura peers out from behind the strand of hair that had fallen in front of her face and gives a noncommittal shrug. “No, it’s ok, I wouldn’t make it back to Brooklyn in time anyway. I was supposed to meet up with someone at 9:45, but I kind of lost track of time and then you happened and it’s just…I’m going to meet up with them another time.”

“Well, I didn’t mean to ruin your date, cutie”

“My date? With Laf?” Laura shook her head, letting out a quiet chuckle. “No, they’re just a friend. And what do you have against using a person’s name? You can stop with the smartass nicknames and use my actual name you know.”

“Uh, no, I can’t. Considering someone never thought to share that little bit of information.”

Laura stared across the table, gaping at Carmilla as she replayed their short interaction in her mind before realizing that she was right, she never did tell the girl her name. “Oh…right. It’s Laura. My name’s Laura. Not cupcake. Not cutie. Laura.”

“Sure thing…cutie”

Laura’s nostrils flared as her face set with frustration at the girl smirking at her from across the table. “You’re insufferable, truly.”

“So…it seems like your night just freed up. And I suppose, being at least partially responsible for your newly cleared schedule, it would only be polite for me to offer you an alternative.”

“I wouldn’t have pegged you as a polite person.”

Carmilla leaned back against the padded booth, bringing her hands to her chest in mock astonishment. “Why, I have never felt so aggrieved!” Sarcasm dripped from each word like syrup trailing down the edge of a shortstack of pancakes. Laura rolled her eyes at the girl, something that she was finding herself doing with an alarming frequency.

“Really though, I wasn’t just randomly stumbling around pretending to be a zombie. Well, I was, but it was a whole thing. It was an improv everywhere event. And well, we were all supposed to meet up at this bar afterwards. You should come.”

Laura was preparing her refusal and there was something in the way Carmilla held her gaze that told her that the girl was fully aware of this. She took a deep breath and opened her mouth to start on the rather sizable list of excuses running through her head but was interrupted when droplets of cold liquid hit her face.

Carmilla still had the straw from her milkshake between her lips when she broke out in laughter. Laura could not believe that someone who was essentially a perfect stranger had just _spit_ the melted remnants of a chocolate milkshake at her _face_. She closed her eyes and clenched her jaw in outrage.

“Have you always been such a raging bi…” She noticed that there was a woman with two young children sitting two booths away. “…bad person.” She grabbed a napkin from the holder at the end of the table and started wiping the chocolate off her face as she glared at a sniggering Carmilla.

“You’ve got a little…” Carmilla reached forward and swiped at Laura’s cheek before bringing her thumb to her lips to lick it clean. The corner of her lips turned upwards in a devilish smirk as a soft pinkness crept up Laura’s cheeks, betraying the scowl plastered across the small girl’s face.

“So, what do you say? How about we get going, the bar is just down the block.”

Laura huffed, taking a moment to consider her options before rolling her eyes and sliding out of the booth. She wriggled her fingers into her pocket and tossed a twenty on the table. “Fine, let’s go before I come to my senses and change my mind.”

 

They made the short walk to the bar in silence. Laura couldn’t decide if it was uncomfortable or not, which somehow left her feeling more unsettled. The bar was packed with people portraying a hoard of the undead to varying levels of success. Her high waisted jeans and stripped crop top actually left her looking more out of place than Carmilla’s ripped, blood stained clothes and tousled hair.

Carmilla made her way over to the packed bar and somehow had convinced two men with white face paint and fake bite wounds plastered on various parts of exposed flesh to vacate their seats. She gestured for Laura to sit down and leaned in close, placing a hand on her shoulder as she spoke into her ear. “What are you drinking cupcake?”

“Uhh, I’ll have a green apple vodka and cranberry.” She catches the flicker of what is fast becoming a familiar smirk before Carmilla turns away to catch the bartender’s attention.  
Moments later she’s being handed her drink as Carmilla takes a swig of an amber drink, draining about a quarter of the liquid from the tumbler in one gulp. 

“So. Zombies.” And Laura’s throat suddenly goes dry as Carmilla’s staring into her eyes again, one well manicured brow quirked upwards. She takes an overly large drink to try to fill the silence and swallows awkwardly. Mercifully, Carmilla either doesn’t notice or chooses to ignore it.

“Yea, it’s not usually my thing, but my idiotic brother wrangled me into it somehow. Speaking of…he should actually be around here somewhere.” She started to glance around the bar, but it was too crowded for her half-hearted search to really be effective. Not that she was all that concerned with finding him, she didn’t really feel like sharing Laura at the moment.

“Laura?! Hey Laura! What are you doing here?”

Carmilla glanced over Laura’s shoulder and saw a tall guy with broad shoulders and closely cropped hair easily weaving his way through the throng of people to get closer to them. She sneered slightly at the interruption. Laura turned around in surprise, but a small smile of recognition spread over her face when her gaze reached the behemoth who now stood with one hand between her shoulder blades. She could feel Carmilla stiffen on the stool beside her.

“Kirsh?”

“I thought you were staying behind with Danny?”

“I was. I did. But then I was supposed to meet up with Lafontaine and I sort of ran into Carmilla here.”

A dark haired stranger suddenly glided up and came to a stop beside Kirsh. Laura watched with apprehension as the guy scanned her up and down.

“Hey kitty, who’s your friend?” The question seemed to be directed towards Carmilla, but the stranger’s predatory gaze never lifted away from Laura.

“Back off Willy boy.” Carmilla’s response was practically a growl. Laura could sense that her body still hadn’t relaxed since the moment the two men approached. 

“Oh, relax kitty, I promise to play nice.” Will seemed to smirk just as much as his sister, but being the recipient of it had a very different effect on her than Carmilla’s did.

“So, this must be your sister bro.” Kirsh removed his hand from Laura’s back and extended it towards Carmilla. Her eyes flicked down before returning to settle on his face, ignoring his handshake.

“I’m Kirsh,” He offered as he awkwardly retracted his hand. 

“Now I see why you bailed so early. Fresh meat more enticing than hanging with your dear brother?”

“Hey, not cool bro. That’s my friend you’re talking about.” Kirsh had elbowed Will in the ribs softly, giving a reaffirming nod in Laura’s direction. Laura smiled appreciatively at Kirsh’s defense. Not that she needed it, but it was nice to see how much he had changed from the oblivious, offensive ass he had been when they first met nearly two years ago. 

“It’s really not anything like that. I mean, it is my fault she missed it, but it’s not what you think. I’m Laura, by the way.” She reached a hand out towards Will who took it in his own.

“Will. I’m sure Kitty here has neglected to mention me. She isn’t big on the whole happy family feelings time.” He sent a teasing grin towards Carmilla who had leaned back to recline against the bar, seemingly bored with the current proceedings. The tumbler in her hand had nearly been drained dry.

Kirsh was looking over at Laura and could read the disquiet in her expression. He slapped a huge hand against Will’s shoulder and mumbled something about seeing some cute girls on the other side of the bar. Laura glanced up at him with grateful eyes and mouthed a silent ‘thank you’

 

Carmilla had flagged the bartender over to refill her whiskey. “So is Danny a…boyfriend?”

Laura’s brows lifted in confusion and it took her a moment to process the question. Out of the whole exchange that just took place that’s the piece of conversation Carmilla picked up on? “Danny? No, Danny is a girl.”

“Oh, so a girlfriend then?” Carmilla spoke with an impression of indifference, as if it was the most casual question in the world. She was utterly failing at her attempt to hide any interest. But Laura was as oblivious as Carmilla was unsubtle. 

“What? No. Danny is…Danny is. She’s a dance partner. She’s someone I dance with sometimes.”

“So _that’s_ what kids are calling it these days.”

“Uh no, she’s in the same dance company as me. I mean sure, we had a thing at one point. Almost everyone in the company has. But she’s just a friend. And you know what, I don’t even know why I’m trying to justify my relationship with her right now. Jesus, I might as well be hanging out with Laf. What do you even care for anyway.”

“I don’t.” She was quick to respond. She was even quicker knocking back the second whiskey. Or was it her third? Laura hadn’t been paying attention, but she suddenly felt the need to catch up. She took their silence as an opportunity to down the rest of her own drink. Carmilla was staring at her with what may have been an impressed expression on her face when Laura slammed the empty cup onto the bartop. “Ready for another?”

“How about some shots?”

A wicked grin spread across Carmilla’s face at the suggestion. “Buckle up creampuff”

 

Laura’s first mistake had probably been not requesting what shots they were taking. Mistake two through…eight? Were the subsequent shots they ordered afterwards. Carmilla was obviously better at holding her liquor which she probably should have picked up on when she had started off sipping whiskey to Laura’s fruity mixed drink.

“Hey, hey cupcake. Where do you live? Where’s your apartment cupcake?” Carmilla was making a valiant effort to coax coherent conversation out of Laura, but her efforts were falling far short. The tiny girl was clinging to her like a sleepy monkey and it was a struggle just to keep them upright against her wild swaying. Laura’s face was pressed hard against the crook of her neck, so even if she hadn’t felt the quick succession of gulps coming from the girl, she could hear them in her ear.

She guided Laura to the curb and swept her hair back from her face just in time before the girl essentially expelled her entire stomach out from her mouth like she was some shark. Carmilla kept the girl half braced against her shoulder while her little body was wracked with wave after wave of sickness. Finally, she felt Laura shudder one last time against her before releasing a groan and swiping at her mouth with the back of her hand. Carmilla grimaced and helped her into what could pass as a standing position.

“Let’s get you cleaned up, then we can figure out how the hell we’re getting you home.” At this point she had pretty much resigned to the fact that she was essentially talking to herself. She led Laura back towards the bar but was stopped at the door.

“Hey, there’s no way I can let your friend in, look at her, she’s completely gone.”

“I’m kind of aware of that dimwit, I just need to get her into the bathroom and then we’re out of here. I promise.”

The bouncer begrudgingly moved aside, shaking his head slightly as Carmilla pushed her way through the doorway. Laura’s head was lolling side to side as she was half dragged into the bathroom. She wasn’t cooperating enough to rinse herself off, so Carmilla grabbed each of her hands and washed them off in the sink before putting a hand on Laura’s back to guide her head closer to the stream of water. She splashed Laura’s face as best she could before turning the faucet off and grabbing a handful of paper towels. With Laura as close to clean as she was going to get, Carmilla scooped her back up and made their way back out onto the street.

“So Cupcake, I’m guessing you’re still not capable of telling me where you live right?” The pause for a coherent response was completely unnecessary. Laura attempted to raise her head up which only caused her neck to swing about wildly and she ended up nearly smashing Carmilla in the jaw. Instead she just crashed her skull against Carmilla’s collarbone. Still slightly unpleasant, but preferable to a second facial injury in one night. 

“Ok Bonaduce, my place it is.”

The L was five blocks away, which shouldn’t have taken very long if Carmilla didn’t have to fight so hard to keep them from veering into the street every few steps. Negotiating the stairs down into the subway required a little more finesse. Getting Laura through the turnstile was a lesson in futility. And yet they made it. By the time they were waiting for the southbound train Carmilla was slumped over in exhaustion.

She had fourteen minutes to catch her breath before the train pulled into the station and she had to hoist Laura into her arms to carry her over the gap. Luckily the car was nearly empty, so she shrugged Laura off into one of the seats before collapsing beside her. It was almost a half an hour before the train reached her stop. It was a twelve minute struggle to Carmilla’s building from the station. There were some indistinct murmurs from Laura, but Carmilla had given up on trying to decipher any meaning from the girl’s drunken rambling. She was exhausted and just wanted to get them upstairs so she could pass out and not wake up until a solid ten hours from now…at least. Never before had she been so upset to live in a walk-up.

When they finally crashed through the apartment door, Carmilla dragged Laura the last few feet into her bedroom and pushed the girl down onto her bed. The duvet was already crumpled at the foot of the bed, so she just dragged it up to cover the girl before walking over towards the bathroom, kicking off boots and shedding various layers of clothing on her way there. She was half asleep when she made her way out of the bathroom and glanced over to the lumpy figure in her bed. Satisfied that Laura was still passed out on her side, Carmilla trudged out of the bedroom and threw herself down on the couch, grabbing the blanket that had been thrown over the back and haphazardly wrapping it around herself as she landed face down on the leather cushions

 

It took Laura a moment to realize where she was when she first woke up. She was definitely in a bed, but apart from that she had nothing to go by. She tried to sit up to take a look around but immediately regretted that decision and threw herself back against the pillow, closing her eyes tight and curling her body in on itself it an attempt to appease the hangover gods and reverse the unfortunate effects that were threatening to take hold after her foolhardy thought that she could just sit up like a fully functional human.

It was too late, the damage was done and every organ in her body was revolting. Her mouth watered in that desperate, ‘this is your body speaking and we’re gonna be nice and give you some warning that we’re about to evacuate the stomach contents, but not too nice…you have ten seconds to reach a suitable vomiting station…nine…eight…’ She shot up and attempted to toss the duvet behind her.

Unfortunately her muscles had not gotten the memo that she was awake and she ungracefully tumbled onto the floor, her limbs still half entangled in the duvet. She made a desperate scramble towards the open bathroom door and just barely reached the toilet in time to hang her head over it. The duvet had made it halfway past the bathroom threshold before she successfully shed it.

In what she would later look back upon as one of the more shameful moments of her life, she spent approximately fifteen minutes alternating between dozing off, half-hugging the toilet and violently spewing whatever remained of her internal organs into its depths. When she was reasonably sure that her stomach would not betray her, she released her grip on the toilet and made a feeble attempt to return to the bed.

She reached as far as the duvet cover that had been strewn across the floor when she decided that this was good enough and curled up half on the cold bathroom tile, half on the solid wood of the bedroom floor. The duvet was clutched in a deathgrip between her arms, a portion of it had been bunched up to form a makeshift pillow under her head.

 

Carmilla glanced at the clock from her position on the couch. 12:43. Not the ten hours she was hoping for, but it was suitable. She stretched out her limbs before rolling off the couch, groggily wiping at her eyes as she made her way to the kitchen and filled a glass of water. The water was downed quickly before she placed the cup back on her counter and headed towards the bathroom. Seeing an empty bed threw her for a second before she noticed a stray leg poking out from the bathroom.

The sight she was met with as she made her way closer to the bathroom entrance had her doubled over with laughter. Apparently Laura wasn’t in a deep enough sleep not to notice. There was some garbled mumbling as she tossed around on the floor, slowly coming to. Carmilla was still struggling to compose herself as she walked closer to the girl splayed across her bathroom floor. She knelt down at Laura’s side and smirked as the girl regarded her with one squinting eye, apparently struggling to keep her face in focus.

“Morning buttercup. Thinking of joining the living anytime soon? Do you want some water? Maybe some aspirin?”  
Laura just nodded her head and groaned. Carmilla chuckled as she stood up, going back to the kitchen to return a moment later with water and pills in hand. She bent over again and held out her free hand to help Laura sit up.

“Here, take these. How the hell did you end up over here anyway?”

Laura tossed back the pills and downed the entire glass of water before she grumbled out a response. “Ugh. I don’t even know. What the hell did you do to me last night? What time is it? Where am I anyway? Arg, this is awful, how the hell did I let this happen? How the heck am I supposed to get home from here now. I can’t even think right now.”

Laura’s ability to go from practically comatose to firing off a million questions at once was pretty astounding. Carmilla would maybe even find it almost amusing if it wasn’t super irritating. Especially the part where she was some how getting blamed for all of this. “Excuse me cutie? What the hell did _I_ do to you last night? Oh I don’t know, hmmm, how about carry you _twelve_ fucking blocks and up _three_ flights of stairs to bring you somewhere safe to sleep. Like in _my bed_. You would be in your own apartment right now if you had been sober enough last night to _tell me where the fuck that is_.”

Laura brought her hands up to cradle her head, trying to hold her skull together to stop the throbbing. She wasn’t capable of comprehending all of the words Carmilla just spat at her just yet, so instead she just closed her eyes and asked, “What the heck did we drink last night?”

Carmilla felt her irritation rising as Laura still failed to acknowledge the fact that her current state was in no part, or at least mostly in no part, Carmilla’s fault. And she still had to pee. So she unceremoniously stepped around Laura and walked over to the toilet.

“Oh god, you’re peeing!”

“Uh, yea cupcake, this is my bathroom and I kind of had a lot to drink last night.”

“But I’m in here!”

“And your point is?”

Carmilla had pulled her underwear back up and was washing her hands before Laura could sputter out another response. She wiped her hands on the front of her t-shirt as she stared at the back of Laura’s head. The blonde had her cellphone out and appeared to be waiting for google maps to load.

“This doesn’t make sense.”

“What doesn’t?”

“My phone. It’s saying I’m home.”

“What? Let me see.” Carmilla reached for the cellphone and peered at the screen. The little dot marker on the map was hovering over her apartment building. “There’s nothing wrong with it, that’s where we are.”

“Wait…you live on Dekalb?”

“Uhh, yea.”

Laura glanced down at her phone again. The dot actually wasn’t over her building, but was just to the left. “I…I think you live in the building right next to mine.”

“Well isn’t that just swell sweetheart.” Her tone was terse and Laura could see the tension in her arms and shoulders.

“Look, about what I said…I’m sorry I went off on you. You didn’t deserve that. You were actually really sweet. So thanks for, you know.”

Laura looked down at her hands, suddenly feeling ashamed of her outburst. Carmilla inched her hand forward, half considering putting an arm on the girl’s shoulder to comfort her. Instead she stood there awkwardly, hand partially outstretched before she ultimately decided against it.

“Well, it’s getting kind of late and I have some things I have to do today so…” That was a lie, but the whole hang around the morning (or afternoon) after was not really her thing. Especially not when there wasn’t anything for there to even be an after to.

Laura twisted her torso around so she could face Carmilla, her eyes wide and mouth slightly open. “Oh, right. Yea, of course. I’m in the way. I’m so sorry…for everything. I’m going to go now.”

She was stumbling out of the duvet now, untangling the fabric from around her short legs as she hopped her way out of the bathroom. She continued to ramble off apologies as she made her way to the door. Carmilla followed her.

They were standing on either side of the doorway now. Carmilla had one hand on the edge of the door and the other pressed up against the doorframe. Laura was awkwardly folding and unfolding her limbs as she stood out in the hallway. They once again found themselves standing entirely too close. Carmilla was still slightly annoyed by Laura’s initial lack of appreciation, but found the girl’s floundering endearing, much to her dismay.

“So this is me, going. I’m totally going. Right now. Ok. Bye!” Her ‘bye’ was oddly high pitched and accompanied by this pathetically adorable wave. And then she turned. And ran. She ran down the hallway. In the wrong direction. Carmilla just stood in the doorway, tilting her head down and pinching the bridge of her nose in second-hand embarrassment.

Laura realized her mistake and backtracked down the hall and past Carmilla standing in the open doorway. She was jogging in the right direction this time and made a big deal about awkwardly pointing towards the door to the stairway as she passed by. “It’s this way. Got it. Byeeee!”

Carmilla stood in the doorframe, staring down the hallway even after the heavy door leading to the stairway slammed shut behind Laura. It wasn’t until one of her neighbors came out and glared at her that she noticed she was standing half in the hallway in a t-shirt and skimpy boyshorts. She slowly retreated back into her apartment, but only after putting on her most mocking grin and waving at the entirely too judgmental neighbor.

 

Laura wasn’t even halfway down the second set of stairs before she dug her phone out of her pocket. Lafontaine picked up on the fourth ring. It sounded as if they had been in the middle of doing something.

“So, I might have met someone?”

“Ok, you don’t sound too sure of yourself there. But it is somewhat reassuring to know that at least I was blown off so you could get laid. Please just tell me it’s not another dancer though, I can’t deal with that again.”

“She’s not a dancer. And what’s wrong with dancers anyway? _I’m_ a dancer. Plus, I didn’t sleep with her.”

“There’s nothing wrong with dancers. Theoretically. There’s just a problem when you sleep with them. How many times have you switched companies now? This is what, the 6th studio you’ve been to in the past…eleven months?”

“Is not! I was in that place in Astoria for…almost 3 months. And then…” Laura let the sentence fade out while she mentally recounted the dance companies she’s been through in the past year.

“I believe my point has been made?”

 “I totally don’t leave _every_ time I sleep with someone in the company.”

“No, you usually wait until you’ve gone through enough of them for jealously and petty backstabbing to start spreading through the group.”

Laura opened her mouth to protest, but knew there was no point in arguing against Laf. She had made it out of Carmilla’s building and only had to cross the street before she reached her own. “I spend almost all of my time at the studio, where else am I supposed to meet people?”

“Well where did you meet your next victim?” Laf’s choice of words weren’t lost on her, but she decided to ignore it for now.

“In Union Square. I kind of…ran into her on my way to the train.”

“You ran into her? Like literally? Awful romcom style?”

“Kind of? If running into her with my fist counts?”

“With your…fist? LAURA HOLLIS YOU DID NOT PUNCH YOUR POTENTIAL NEW CRUSH!”

“I DIDN’T MEAN TO! Well, no, I did. But I THOUGHT SHE WAS A ZOMBIE!”

“A…zombie. Like full on, imma eat yer brains member of the walking dead?”

“Well it sounds ridiculous when you say it…but YEA!”

“Laura. You are…I don’t even know. Can I study you? Like I’m serious, let’s hook that brain of yours up to some machines and get some data because you are….just, ugh.”

“I don’t know, I was in a rush because I was messing around with Danny, so I knew I was already going to be late meeting you and then she’s just, ‘bam!’ there and she _comes after me_. And there are other undead…people around and I just…sort of maybe hit her?”

“Wait. Wait. You were running late because you were messing around with Danny?! Again?!”

“Oh please, it wasn’t like that! She knows there’s nothing between us anymore. I think.” 

“If you say so.” She could tell by the tone in Laf’s voice that they totally didn’t believe it. “So you punched the new girl and then what?”

“Well, we were at the diner when you called last night, getting ice for her lip.”

“Jesus, Laura, you punched the poor girl in the mouth?”

“It wasn’t that bad! Well it kind of was, but I bought her a milkshake?” Laura could practically hear them rolling their eyes over the phone. “And well, when she heard I had cancelled my plans with you, she told me I should go to the bar for the improve everything zombie takeover thing.”

“Improve everything?….Wait! There was an improv everywhere zombie apocalypse last night? And I missed it? Ahhh, I’ve been begging Per to come with me to one of those forever! Was it totally awesome? I bet it was awesome. God, I can’t believe we missed it!”

“Perry totally would’ve hated it!” Lafontaine ignored this bit of information.

“Ok, so you guys went out for drinks and you _didn’t_ sleep with her. When are you gonna see her again?”

Laura unlocked the door to her apartment and walked inside. She went straight to the kitchen and set about to making some hot cocoa. “I don’t really know. We never really planned anything? I actually didn’t even get her number. I kind of ran away?”

“You. You ran. away?”

“Yea, well, I had waaaaaay too much to drink last night so I guess she ended up taking me back to her place. Which it turns out is _literally_ right next door. She lives in the building over and I’ve never seen her before!”

“Well of course, you’re never freaking home! You practically live at the dance studio.”

She left the kitchen, tardis mug in hand, and was walking through a minimally decorated living room when she suddenly dropped to the floor with a shriek. Hot cocoa splashed out of the mug and left a small puddle on the hardwood floor.

Laf pulled the phone away from their ear and grimaced at the shrill noise that had emanated from the speaker. “What the hell was that for?”

“I saw her!”

“You saw her? Saw who? The girl from last night?”

“Yes! I just saw her through my window! Oh my god, I saw her through my window!” Laura was currently crouched against the wall beneath her window. “Oh my god, she totally blew me off!”

“Blew you off?”

“Yea, she said she had stuff she had to do today, but she’s totally just hanging around in her apartment!”

“Wait, so you can see into her apartment right now?”

“Yes!” Laura grabbed onto the windowsill and slowly peeked out until she could just barely see out the window.

“Well you never know, maybe she had to do stuff around the apartment.”

“I don’t think so, she’s just hanging around. In her underwear.”

“Didn’t you _just_ leave though? Don’t you think you’re being a little quick to call her a liar?”

“Of course! I think this situation calls for some recon. Any chance you want to come over for a stakeout?”

“As tempting as the offer to run surveillance on your potential liar of a neighbor is, I’m going to have to pass on the stalking. Just putting the finishing touches on the mouse mix before I head over to the lab.”

“Ick, tell me you didn’t prepare that disgusting trail mix for the mice again? Laura’s face scrunched up in horror at the memory of the blend she once watched Laf throw together while Perry had been preparing lunch for the three of them.

“They go crazy for it!”

Carmilla had moved to a different part of the apartment, one that was no longer in view through the window. Laura decided it was safe to stand up again and made her way back into the kitchen to get a paper towel for the spilt cocoa. 

“It’s still gross. But I’m gonna let you go, talk to you later.”

 

Laura plugged her phone into the charger on her counter before making her way towards the bathroom. She desperately needed a shower after last night. The mirror in the bathroom was still fogged up when she emerged twenty minutes later feeling like an actual human again. It was nearly 2:00pm. Her stomach growled and she realized that she hadn’t had anything to eat since the cupcake from the diner last night. She knew there was no food in her apartment. The only things she ever really had on hand were cookies and hot cocoa, something that everyone who ever visited just _had_ to comment on. 

She couldn’t help but glance towards the window across the street as she walked through her living room. Her stomach swooshed when she saw Carmilla. There she was, still in her underwear, reading a book on her couch. Laura huffed in indignation. She couldn’t believe that she had been blown off for a book.

Laura walked away from the window and grabbed her phone off the counter. Scrolling through the recent contacts she quickly found Danny’s number.

“Hey Danny! Any chance you want to go get something to eat right now?”


	2. My Windows Look Into Your Living Room

Laura was already working on an oversized chocolate chip cookie when Danny walked over to the table. The corners of her lips twitched up into a stiff smile as the towering redhead bent over to press a kiss to the side of her cheek. 

“Hey! I was going to get you something, but I didn’t know what you would want so I figured I would just wait for you to get here and then you could decide and…yea.”

Danny chuckled at Laura’s rambling, like anyone else who spent any amount of time around the girl, she was quite used to it by now. “Yea, no, that’s fine,” she said as she lowered herself onto a seat. 

“So, how’s Lafontaine?” Danny’s voice was forced somehow, like it pained her to mention the name.

“Oh…right. I never actually ended up meeting them, things just got a liiiittle crazy last night.”

“Wait, what? Crazy? What happened?!” Danny’s voice rose in concern.

“Nothing bad! No, everything is ok. I just ended up drinking way too much, hence emergency brunch date with you. Going to try and smother this hangover with pancakes, lots and lots of pancakes.”

“Drinking too much? But if you didn’t meet up with Lafontaine, then who were you drinking with? You didn’t get drunk alone did you? Is something going on Laura? Are you alright?”

“No, no, Danny, no. It wasn’t…no, I ended up meeting someone after I left the studio and well, we went out for some drinks and things just…escalated.”

“So you got plastered with a stranger? Laura, you could have gotten yourself hurt!”

“Danny, can we just drop it?”

“Laura, I just care about you and I worry sometimes. Am I not allowed to want to protect you?”

“But I don’t _need_ your protection, Danny! We’ve been over this before.”

Danny looked wounded. Her hand had stretched out onto the table, occupying empty space between them. It was as if she wanted to be holding Laura but was held off by an invisible barrier the small girl had put in place. 

The rest of the brunch was filled with awkward tension. Laura had never been happier to see a waitress bringing over the check. Danny wanted to pay but backed down quickly at Laura’s insistence that they split it. 

 

“So, do you have any plans for the rest of the day?”

“Uh, yea. I should probably meet up with Laf later. I’m kind of tired, so maybe I’ll see if I can get some sleep until then.”

Laura was mumbling a goodbye when Danny leaned down and pressed their lips together. Laura pulled back sharply, shaking her head back and forth slightly as she watched Danny’s face crumple before her.

“Danny, no.” Laura took a half step back, a sudden remorsefulness washing over her. “We can’t. I can’t. I thought you knew that.”

“But why? Why can’t you just try this? We worked. We work. I know we work. This,” She motioned between them, taking a step forward to close the gap Laura had put in place. “works.”

Laura leaned back, once again trying to put distance between them. “No, it doesn’t. And I’m sorry, but it’s not fair for either of us to try and force it.” She hung her head, all of the fight escaping her body in a sigh, leaving her slouched in defeat. “I came to you today looking for a friend to talk to.” Laura lifted her head to look Danny in the eye again, her face relaying the betrayal she felt. 

Danny held her stare, answering it with her own pleading look of longing. Laura’s voice faltered as she said goodbye and she turned and hurried to cross the street. Danny made to follow her but was stalled by a passing taxi. Laura had already broken into a run by the time the street was clear to cross. Danny considered chasing after her for a moment, it definitely wouldn’t be hard for her to catch up. Instead, she stepped back onto the curb, leaning back against a street sign and groaning in frustration.

 

It was nearly a week since their lunch where Danny had tried to kiss her and the tension between them had never been higher. Laura’s repeated attempts at conversation went ignored, which was especially awkward when they were supposed to be working on putting a performance together.

Dancing had always been a source of release for her. A large majority of her childhood had been spent in various dance studios, they were her happy place. And right now, her happy place was being tainted by wistful glances she could feel being tossed her way anytime the lanky redhead was around. 

Laura gave up on trying to explain herself to Danny and started feeling resentful that she ever felt that she had to. Soon she was avoiding Danny all together. Unfortunately, avoiding her also meant avoiding the dance studio. It was barely three days in when it became glaringly obvious that something had to change.

 

“Laura, you know we love you, but you really need to girl the hell up here.” Laf wiped cookie crumbs off of Laura’s couch with a look of mild concern before they sat down. They could hear Perry flitting about the apartment, tossing empty cookie packets and food wrappers into a garbage bag.

Laura liked to think of herself as a neat person, but she had to consider if the reason her apartment had always been so spotless before was because she never really spent any time here. No, she decided, she usually wasn’t such a messy person. She joined Laf on her couch, leaning back against the cushions with an exasperated sigh.

“I knowwww,” She huffed, lifting her legs up onto the couch and hugging her knees to her chest.

“You _know_ how I feel about Danny. So you won’t hear any argument from me over you shutting that down. But, not even I can really blame her for reacting the way she is.”

“What?! She threw a tomato at my head the other day!”

Laf had to stifle their laughter behind their hand. “I thought Kirsch said she was aiming for the garbage can?”

“Oh yea, like she didn’t miss and hit me in the head on purpose! She’s always just pushed the tomatoes to the side and thrown them away after finishing the rest of her salad. But no, all of a sudden she just has such an aversion to cherry tomatoes that she must fling them across the room and HIT PEOPLE ON THE SIDE OF THEIR HEAD!”

Laf tried to conceal the smile still playing on their face as they lowered their voice, pretending to be very serious all of a sudden. “Of course, what was I thinking, she’s obviously a fruit wielding maniac and we must stop her before she graduates onto kiwis or pomegranates. You never know, tomatoes are a gateway fruit, it could be kumquats next.”

“She could have hit Laura in the eye, Lafontaine! This isn’t something to be so flippant about!” Perry bustled past them, broom in hand. Laf had to hurry to raise their legs off the floor to avoid getting smacked in the shins as Perry swept. 

“Ok, yes, Danny was an immature ass. We know this, yes? Like, I’ve been telling you this for months L. But,” They paused to hold up a hand, signaling to Laura that she needed to let them continue. “But, as horribly as she’s acting, I can kind of see why she’s taking it badly. Now, I’m not justifying her behavior. Because again, asshole. Giant asshole, like I’ve said from the start.” Lafontaine liked to make sure Laura understood how much they’ve always disliked Danny. “But, you do have this way of stringing people along. And I don’t think you do it on purpose, it’s just…there’s something about you that makes people fall harder for you than you do for them.” 

Laura furrowed her brow, trying to process what Laf was telling her. “I liked her, I really did. But then she kept wanting something I couldn’t give her. And then I started to feel guilty that I couldn’t be that person for her…” She trailed off and it seemed like there was something that was being left unsaid. When it looked like she wasn’t going to continue, Laf reached out and put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her in to rest against their side.

“I just need to get back into the studio, everything will go back to being ok when I can start dancing again.”

“Why don’t you just dance here, sweetie?” Perry was over by the window, wiping dust from the sill with the wad of paper towels she had in her hand. 

“In my apartment?” Laura glanced around her living room. She really wasn’t utilizing the space…like, at all. She had lived here for nearly a year and all she had in the living room was the couch they were sitting on and a small end table that held a lamp, a stack of books and her laptop.

“Maybe that would motivate you to keep this place a little tidier,” Perry said, looking disapprovingly at the amount of dust on the paper towel. Laura and Perry had very different ideas of what it took to keep the place tidy. The chances that Laura was suddenly going to become the kind of person who compulsively cleans every surface of the apartment the way Perry did were, well, they were nonexistent. But an idea had been put into motion in her mind and that was all it usually took for her to become consumed with something.

 

“Here we go. Pivot! Pivot!” Laura was ahead of Kirsch and Laf on the stairs, the edges of a large, flat box grasped in her hands. 

“I know you’re trying to be amusing with your little pop culture references, but now is really not the time, Laura.” Kirsch was paused on the steps, supporting the bottom of the large box. “And whose idea was it for you to be leading? Your stumpy little arms aren’t holding the box high enough.”

He had a point. How they managed to get the box up the first two flights of stairs was a complete mystery. However, Laura would never admit that it had been foolish of her to take the job of holding the front of the container up.

“You expect me to be at the bottom and risk getting crushed when your overly long monkey limbs drop the box?” They struggled the rest of the way up to the third floor in silence excluding the occasional grunt. 

Once inside the apartment, the three of them carefully laid the enormous box flat on the open space of Laura’s living room floor. Laf pulled a pocket knife from their back pocket and slashed away at the tape keeping the box closed. The three of them started to pull back padding to reveal the first of three 4’x8’ mirror panels.

It took the better part of two hours for them to hang the mirrors. The process would have gone quicker if Laf hadn’t kept making Kirsch readjust each panel, claiming that they weren’t perfectly level. Laura was sure after the fourth time that Laf was just doing it to mess with him.

“So, any chance I can convince you to have those beers you offered as payment at the bar instead of on your couch?” Kirsch flashed Laura his best excited puppy eyes. His face opened to accommodate a wide grin when he saw a hesitant smile creep across Laura’s face. “Great, Will texted me before to meet him at the bar nearby.”

“Wait, Will? As in that creepy guy from the bar last month?” She suddenly wasn’t so sure about her non-verbal agreement to go out. 

“Hey! Weren’t you the one to always tell me not to judge people so quickly?”

“Uggggh, I knowww. He just seems so…sketchy.”

“Nah little L, he’s a good bro. You just gotta get to know him. If you just give him a chance, I’m sure he’ll grow on you. And hey, maybe his sister will be there. You two seemed pretty cosy at the bar last time.”

Laura’s eyes went wide at the mention of Carmilla. “His sister? Why would I care if his sister was there? I wouldn’t. And what do you mean by cosy? We weren’t cosy. We were very uncosy. The opposite of cosy. There was a complete and utter lack of comfort and ease. We were uncomfortable. Horrendously uncomfortable.”

“Suuuure, crushes on zombies. Miiight want to work on that rambling problem, just in case she is there. Or not. Actually, yea, I’m going to go with or not. That will be oh so entertaining.” Laf chuckled as they walked past Laura, already making their way towards the door.

“Wait!,” Laura squeaked as she watched the backs of Laf and Kirsch slip closer to the door. “I have to…pee.” She was skittering off towards the bathroom before either of them could respond. 

The door slammed behind her and she was clutching the sink, studying her reflection in the mirror. She literally just installed twelve feet of floor to ceiling length mirrors and yet here she was, twisting and turning her body in a futile effort to examine every detail of her outfit in the small bathroom mirror. It would have to do though, there was _no_ way that she was going to go out there and study her current fashion situation in front of those two. 

They could hear the bathroom door swing open, but Laura did not reappear for several more minutes. When she did she had a sleeveless white dress with a belted waist on. The dress ended just below her fingertips, so she was playing with the hem as she walked towards the door.

Kirsch had a baffled look on his face. “Uhhh, were you not just wearing shorts and a tshirt a second ago?”

“They got wet. From washing my hands in the sink. There was a malfunction. You know me, always with the clumsy and such. Let’s go. Don’t want to keep Will waiting.”

Lafontaine snorted in laughter. “Those sinks can be so tricky.”

 

It was a short walk to the bar. For someone who had spent nearly a year in the neighborhood, Laura did not actually spend much time exploring it. In fact, she had never once stepped foot into this bar that was apparently only four blocks from her apartment. Kirsch held the door open for her and Laf to pass through and her eyes immediately scanned the room for pale skin and dark hair. She spotted Will easily, although the particular dark hair she had really been looking for was significantly longer. Her face fell when she noticed Will was very much alone. 

“Hey, bro!” Kirsch swept passed her, leaning across a chair to pull Will into a one armed hug, completing some oddly ritualistic handshake as they broke apart. “You remember Laura, right? And this is Laf.” 

Will flashed a crooked smirk at the pair. There were definitely similarities between the siblings, but Laura couldn’t keep her mind from considering how much she preferred the expression when it played on Carmilla’s lips instead. She frowned to herself, mentally chastising herself for the images that flashed through her mind. Her attention snapped back to the conversation when she heard mention of Carmilla.

“I thought your sister was going to be here?”

“Carmilla?” Will gave a hollow laugh. “No, she tries to limit how often she’s seen with me. Doesn’t want to give anyone the wrong impression. God forbid someone thinks she actually enjoys being around people regularly. No, I was just supposed to meet her so she could return something.”

Kirsch nodded in understanding, mumbling something that Laura didn’t quite catch.

“So, I promised you two some drinks” She glanced between Kirsch and Laf. “Everyone alright with beer?” They nodded in agreement and Laura headed over to the bar. She returned a few minutes later with four bottles grasped in her hands. Will gave her a surprisingly warm smile when she placed the fourth bottle in front of him. He thanked her before quickly finishing off what had remained of his previous beer.

The four of them fell into comfortable conversation, Will and Kirsch trading stories from their wild frat days. Each of them were equally as adamant that their chapter of Zeta Omega Mu was the superior one. Laf and Laura offered the appropriate levels of ridicule. Kirsch, Will and Laf had all gone up to buy subsequent rounds, which helped keep the conversation going.

 

It wasn’t hard for Carmilla to spot Will, it wasn’t even 7pm yet so the bar was still nearly empty. She could see that he was sitting with people and she was definitely not in any mood to hang around his undoubtedly annoying friends. So she pulled the key out of her pocket as she crossed the room towards his table, planning on handing it off and getting out of here as quickly as possible. 

“Here’s your key, jackass.” She slammed the single key down on the table in front of him, turning on her heel with every intention of leaving without another word. And then her gaze fell upon honey brown hair at the opposite side of the table. Her lips pulled up into a sly grin entirely of their own accord.

“Hey, cutie.”

“Carmilla?! Hi—Hey. What are you…What are you doing here?”

“Oh, well I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to spend some quality time with my dear brother here.” Carmilla leaned into Will, throwing an arm over his shoulders and plastering a comically sappy grin over her face.

“Since when do you deign to associate with a lowly mortal such as myself?” Will wore a look of pure self-satisfaction as he leaned back in his chair, obviously amused by his sister’s sudden change of character. He was definitely going to enjoy holding whatever this infatuation was over her head.

“Don’t mind Will, he was dropped on his head frequently as a child.” Carmilla sneered at her brother as she pulled a chair over from the table next to them. She slid the chair between Will and Laura, but made no movements to sit just yet. Instead she turned towards the bar, stopping with her hands on the back of Laura’s chair to regard the group. “Anyone ready for another?”

All four of them glanced at their bottles. They each had at least half a beer left and so all four declined Carmilla’s offer. When Carmilla returned from the bar she placed a bottle in front of her vacant chair before revealing the two shots she had cradled in her other hand. She looked down at Laura with a playful smirk. “Care for round two, Rocky? We’re much closer to home this time, I wouldn’t have to carry you _nearly_ as far.”

Laura wrinkled her nose, holding back a gag at the thought of taking a shot. “Uhhhh noooo, _definitely_ not.”

Carmilla shrugged before knocking both shots back herself. 

After several rounds, Kirsch and Will started an argument over who was the better pool player. They went back and forth, both making grand statements of their own superiority before Laf pointed out there was a table in the back corner where they could battle it out.

“Why don’t we play doubles? You and me versus the neanderthal and the creampuff?”

Laura was surprised to find herself being dragged into the competition. She couldn’t remember the last time she had played pool and was in no rush to embarrass herself by attempting anything that required fine motor skills while she was slightly inebriated.

“But what about Laf?”

Lafontaine was quick to shut down Laura’s out, dismissing her not entirely altruistic concerns with a, “No way, _creampuff_ , this is going to be far too entertaining to miss.”

Laura pouted at them before reluctantly joining the others at the pool table. Standing up, the effects of the fifth beer washed over her anew. Considering she was not always the most coordinated person in her day to day life when she was perfectly sober, this was going to be interesting.

“I should probably warn you, I’m maybe not the most spectacular pool player in the world.”

“No worries little L, I _totally_ am. So we’ve got this.”

 

Kirsch was slightly less confident ten minutes into the game. He was doing well enough, but Laura kept scratching and Carmilla was surprisingly good. 

“Not fair dude, this game needs to be handicapped. You’ve got the advantage of having a team mate that actually knows how to play! No offense, Laura.”

Laura didn’t even try to act insulted, she had yet to sink a single shot and was all too happy that Carmilla and Will were close to winning if that meant she wouldn’t have to play much longer.

“Well, maybe your teammate wouldn’t suck so bad if you used your _‘totally superior skills bro’_ to, I don’t know, help her out a bit?” Carmilla approached the table, drawing herself to stand close behind Laura as she was setting herself up to take a shot.

Laura stiffened when she felt hands come to rest on her hips. Carmilla hesitated there for a brief moment, weighing Laura’s reaction. She relaxed slightly beneath Carmilla’s hands and suddenly there was a leg between her own causing a strangled squeak to escape her throat. She could feel Carmilla’s combat boot clad foot applying pressure against her her own.

“You just have to widen your stance a little…” Carmilla breathed out against her neck.

Hands were pulling Laura’s hips back away from the table, tilting them to press against her own. “You’ve got to open your hips…” Her hands were leaving Laura’s hips now, trailing up her torso and tracing down the length of Laura’s arms until they were covered by her own. Carmilla’s right hand folded over Laura’s, sliding it to rest further back on the pool stick.

“Line up your shot…” Carmilla’s whole body was pressed flush against Laura’s back as she moved to guide Laura’s left hand on the felted tabletop. “…and shoot.” 

Carmilla’s face was still held close against her own when the striped ball she had been aiming for fell into the pocket with a loud thunk. Laura could feel the girl’s cocky smirk even before she turned her head to see it. 

“I did it! I got one in!” Her face lit up, but the goofy grin quickly slipped away to be replaced by parted lips and soft eyes. With her face turned back towards Carmilla she found her lips just inches from the girl’s.

“That you did, cupcake.” Carmilla’s voice poured out in a thick drawl that washed over Laura and made her breath catch in the back of her throat.

“Hey, kitty? Maybe you can step back and stop helping the other team.”

Will was leaning against his pool stick with an amused look on his face. Kirsch and Laf were on the opposite side of the table, whispering at each other while tossing furtive glances in Laura and Carmilla’s direction. Laura was too flustered to notice.

Carmilla’s lesson was too late to make any difference in the game and Will was quick to proclaim that the losers had to buy the next round. Kirsch grumbled all the way over to the bar. He had two pitchers in his hands when he returned.

“Pitchers were buy one get one half off.”

The night deteriorated from there. Kirsch challenged Will to a one on one rematch, which he won and became insufferable about until Laf shut him up by beating him in three consecutive games. Laura and Carmilla were sitting at the table playing rock paper scissors. Laura was becoming progressively handsier as the pitchers were drained. When Carmilla played scissors to her rock, she eagerly smashed her balled fist over Carmilla’s hand.

“Aha! I win! Drink!”

Carmilla chugged the beer in front of her and immediately started the next round. When Laura punched out a closed fist again, Carmilla covered it with an open hand. Laura pouted and threw back her drink. She reached towards the pitcher to refill her cup but found it empty.

“Imma go get us so’more” She slurred, pushing her chair away from the table and staggering to her feet. She didn’t get more than one step before sitting back down.

“So, I’m drunk.”

Carmilla laughed. “You really don’t handle your alcohol all that well do you, buttercup?”

“Hey!” Laura pointed a wavering finger in Carmilla’s face. “I’ve been drinking for hours.”

“At least you can throw up in your own bathroom this time.” 

“Oh god, did I make a mess in your apartment? I didn’t puke on your covers or anything did I?”

“No, cupcake, my apartment was vomit-free. You have surprisingly good aim for a drunk person.”

Kirsch and Laf wandered over from the dart board. Kirsch had been desperate to find something he could beat them in, but gave up after losing for the fourth time. 

“Guys! I have good aim!”

They exchanged confused looks.

“That’s great, little L. How’re your walking skills though? Because it doesn’t look like you’re going to be making it up the stairs.” Kirsch was thinking he was going to have to carry something, or more correctly, someone, up the stairs to Laura’s apartment for the second time today.

 

Carmilla opened the door to her apartment and tossed her keys onto the counter. It was 92º outside, leather pants had _not_ been a good idea. She immediately began to peel them from her body, struggling to kick them off as she made her way deeper into the apartment. Finally free from the fabric, she made no move to pick the discarded pants off her living room floor. Instead she continued over to the window sill where a gigantic cat was perched. The black maine coon turned his head towards Carmilla as she approached, chirping in affection when she reached out to stroke his neck.

Movement across the street caught Carmilla’s eye and she focused her attention on the building opposite her own. She had a clear view into the apartments facing hers, something that she had always been vaguely aware of. Still, she had never really paid any attention to any of the occupants before. Now though, she watched as a figure danced around the apartment directly across from her own. There was something about the way the girl’s body seemed to float around the space so effortlessly that held her attention. It took her nearly a minute before she realized that she knew the person dancing.

“No fucking way,” She exclaimed to her empty apartment, staring out at her neighbor in disbelief.

Two days later, Carmilla found herself rearranging some of the things in her apartment. She pulled her keyboard up against the wall beneath the window. Whenever she needed to justify the new layout, she told herself that being able to look outside was good inspiration for making music. It definitely didn’t have anything to do with a certain tiny girl who would spend hours in front of a wall of mirrors, dancing as if she was trying to block out everything else in existence. 

 

With both girls now spending a significant amount of time in front of their respective windows, each sneaking glances at the other, it was only a matter of time before they caught one another. Laura had taken a break from dancing and was trying to catch her breath as she sipped from a bottle of water.

Carmilla had been playing along as Laura danced, making something up on the piano to match the movements of the girl across the street. Laura disappeared before quickly returning with a bottle of water. Carmilla had been staring when Laura happened to wander over to her own window. They locked eyes for a moment and Carmilla had to laugh at the expression of sheer terror on the girl’s face. Laura simply vanished from sight a split second later.

When Laura had looked out from her window only to find Carmilla staring right back at her, she panicked. She threw herself to the ground, crashing down as if someone had simply cut her off at the legs. She remained frozen on the ground for a moment before slowly raising herself up to look out once more. Carmilla was still staring, looking utterly amused as she raised a hand and wiggled her fingers. Laura scrunched up her face in irritation before ducking back down to the floor. She crawled away from the window on her hands and knees. When she risked a glance outside later that night, all she saw was an unlit room. 

 

“Laura, how are you still alive? Everything in your fridge is made of glucose and palm oil.” 

Laura had invited Lafontaine and Perry over earlier and suggested that they stay for dinner without actually considering that she would have needed to keep real food in the apartment in order for that to be feasible. 

“Uhhh, we could order pizza?” 

“No, that just won’t do. You simply cannot survive on—“ Perry rummaged through Laura’s cabinets “—peanut butter, nutella, kraft dinner and…cookies, so, so many cookies.”

Laura pouted, putting on a very convincing wounded puppy expression. “But, it’s all really delicious.”

“No! We’re going to get you some normal food. Something that provides actual nutrition, not something that someone concocted in a lab somewhere.”

“Actually Per, I could probably throw together a killer food replacement if I jus…”

“You are not engineering some crazy, synthetic diet! Laura is not one of your mice Lafontaine!”

Laf’s eyebrows lifted and they raised their arms up to signal their defeat. “It was just a suggestion.” They added on, “But I totally could.” Underneath their breath.

“Ok, fine…but maybe afterwards we could still order a pizza?”

“Maybe if you’re good. Now, let’s go.” Perry led the way out of the apartment, Laf and Laura both dragging their feet as they followed behind. 

 

“And I look over and there she is, staring into my window with like, the most stalkeristy stalker eyes ever!” Laura was updating them on the latest happenings of hot neighborgate while the three of them strolled through the aisles of the supermarket. Perry had originally wanted them to go to the natural foods store, but Laura had put her foot down. There was no way she was going to take the twenty minute walk loaded down with all of the groceries Perry was bound to make her get, not when there was a perfectly acceptable market a block from her apartment.

“Ok, but isn’t that kiiinda what you’ve been doing for the past what? Three? Four weeks? Like, all we now know is that you guys are even more creepily perfect for each other. You’re both hot. You guys live across from each other so, hello, super easy access. And apparently ‘Every Breath You Take’ would be your official song. So congrats on that one, you’ve managed to find someone who’s as willfully ignorant to the concept of interpersonal boundaries as you are.”

Laura leaned her weight over the shopping cart’s handle, huffing in frustration. Perry had originally been the one pushing the cart, but upon noticing that Laura had snuck several boxes of cake and brownie mix into the cart, she demanded that they switch. Laura had tried to argue that they were slightly less processed than what she had at home, considering they required the addition of real ingredients before becoming edible. Perry just muttered about how ridiculous she was and fixed her with an incredibly intimidating side eye anytime Laura even thought about removing a hand from the cart. 

“I don’t know, she’s obnoxiously flirtatious whenever we’re around each other, but I think that has more to do with her like, personality rather than _me_ specifically.”

Lafontaine glanced at her in disbelief. “L, you’re like, the _most_ oblivious. She’s so totally into you. It’s actually kind of gross.”

“Then how come she’s never even asked for my number?”

“I dunno, but you _could_ always just ask for hers. Like, right now for example.”

They were navigating the produce department when Laura nearly ran the cart directly into the stand holding piles of various citrus fruits. She had been distracted by the girl carefully inspecting the bin of avocados. Carmilla was too distracted by the fruit to have noticed them. 

“Hey there, Carmilla!” Lafontaine walked right up behind her, entirely too pleased with the situation for Laura’s liking.

Carmilla looked up in surprise, avocados still in hand as her gaze transferred from Laf to Laura.

“Fancy seeing you here, Tintin.”

“What are you doing here?” Laura’s inquiry was perhaps more abrupt than she had planned for.

“Uhh, same as you I suppose? Can’t survive on whiskey alone, unfortunately.”

Perry came up from behind Laura, placing what essentially looked like giant leaves into the cart.

“You sure are fond of redheads, aren’t you.”

Laf stifled a laugh. “You have nooo idea.”

Laura shot them a glare and Carmilla squinted at them in confusion. 

“Anyway…we’re all going to see Rocky Horror tonight…you should come.”

Carmilla’s expression softened almost imperceptibly.

“I think I would like that very much.”

It was suddenly entirely too warm in the store, Laura was sure of it.

“So, it’s at midnight. Obviously. But we have to leave time to get to Chelsea, soooo, meet us outside the apartment around…eleven?”

“Sure thing, cupcake.”

“Oh and Carmilla?”

“Yea?”

“Wear a costume.”

 

Laura, Laf and Perry were all waiting on the curb in front of Laura’s building. Perry was adjusting the white lace cap pinned atop her head. Between the maid’s uniform and heavy makeup, Perry looked nearly identical to Patricia Quinn’s Magenta.

She had not been all that thrilled with dressing up when they first started going to see Rocky Horror, but Laf and Laura were so into it that she couldn’t bring herself to dampen their enthusiasm. Over the years spent attending the midnight show together, Perry had gotten Magenta’s makeup down to an art form. 

Lafontaine almost regretted wearing the cummerbund and bowtie while they stood around in the 90º heat. It was nights like this that they almost missed the times when they had went as Columbia instead.

The three of them had been standing around outside for nearly ten minutes before they could see Carmilla strutting across the street towards them. Literally strutting. Laura was glad she noticed Carmilla before she got too close, hopefully the girl was far enough away that Laura’s comically loud gulp went undetected. Carmilla definitely listened when Laura told her to dress up.

Laura’s eyes trailed down Carmilla’s body, lingering at the wide expanses of bare skin. She wore a black corset with matching black satin panties. Fishnets were being held up by a black lace garter belt. Laura forced herself to look back up to Carmilla’s face and felt her cheeks flush when she saw the all too knowing smirk in place. There wasn’t even any respite in staring at her face. All that did was fill her mind with thoughts of Carmilla’s dark red lipstick smudged against her own skin. Another audible gulp filled the air, serving only to widen the grin on Carmilla’s face.

“All of that fuss over costumes and you don’t even wear one of your own, cutie?”

Laura tightened her hands into fists in an attempt to regain some semblance of composure.

“I..I am wearing a costume. It’s uh—“ She grasped at the front of her coat, slowly pulling it open to reveal what was underneath “—under here.” Carmilla’s eyes grew wider as she took in the sight of Laura in her white bra and simple sheer white skirt. She hadn’t expected the girl to wear something so revealing.

“Whenever you guys decide to stop ogling each other, we’re totally ready to go over here,” Lafontaine piped up from behind them. Laura shook her head as if emerging from a trance, pulling her coat closed again as she did so.

“Right, we should get going.”

 

There was already a sizable crowd waiting off to the left of the theatre’s lobby. The majority of them were in costume, but Laura couldn’t help but think that no one was pulling it off quite like Carmilla.

“So yea, this is kind of a thing we do. We used to go much more often, but our schedules changed and things came up so it just got kinda difficult. Now we try to make time to come every once in a while.”

Carmilla was scanning the room, taking in everyone standing around them. “I’ve never actually been to one of these before.”

Laura suddenly reached out and grabbed Carmilla’s arm, staring at her incredulously. “Wait, you’re a virgin?!”

“Uhh excuse me, creampuff?”

“You’re a virgin. You’ve never seen it in theaters. But then how did you come here looking like this?” She gestured wildly at Carmilla’s body.

“It’s not that hard to google something.”

“But you literally had like…five hours notice.”

“What? I just threw some things together that I already had.”

“Soooo…the corset and fishnets are a typical Friday night outfit? Because, wow.”

“Nah…I usually save them for Saturdays. I broke them out a day early just for you, sweetheart. Now, don’t you feel special?” Carmilla leaned into Laura, bare skin pressing against her covered shoulder. Laura could feel her heart racing as her eyeline slowly drifted down to rest on the deep red of Carmilla’s painted lips. 

Suddenly, an oversized box of sour patch kids appeared over her shoulder. “Snacks acquired!” Laf shouted, drink grasped in their hand, completely ignorant of their intrusion. 

 

Perry had managed to snag them seats in the front row by glowering at anyone foolish enough to try and cross her. Laf was squabbling with Perry over who should hold the popcorn when one of the cast members started the call for virgins.

Laura nudged Carmilla, trying to convince her to stand up. Carmilla was adamantly refusing, but Laura was at least equally as stubborn and continued her attempts to cajole her into participating. Eventually Carmilla gave in, reluctantly rising out of her seat with a huff. She found herself being ushered on stage almost immediately and glanced back at Laura who was laughing in her seat. 

Carmilla was standing on stage in a line up with seven other so called virgins. A girl with a microphone was going down the line, instructing them each to fake their best orgasm. When she reached Carmilla, the girl raked her eyes over her body and gave an appreciative grin. With the mic held close to her face, Carmilla gave the girl a bored glance and dead panned, “Oh. Oh baby. Yes.”

The actor pouted, bringing the mic back to herself as she turned to the audience. “Now, I would think Frank here could do better than that, right guys? What do you say we give a little something to moan about?!” The crowd all started hooting. Some girls stood up and lifted their tops to flash the stage. Carmilla locked eyes with Laura sitting in the front row, laughing and hollering along with the rest of the audience. 

With the mic on her once again, Carmilla started panting against the metal mesh of the microphone pressed close to her lips. There’s stuttered breathing followed by a sharp inhalation, her head tilting ever so slightly back while a hand comes up to wrap around the microphone in front of her. The audience is still going wild, but they don’t even exist to her right now. Her eyes are still trained on the girl sitting in the front row, squirming uneasily in her seat. 

There’s a sense of urgency starting to bubble under the surface now as her breath begins to catch in her throat. Her mouth gapes open and a moan slips out before it’s strangled back when she grasps her bottom lip between her teeth. She took a rapid series of shallow, raspy breaths before her shoulders rose with a final shudder and she released a drawn out sigh. She had held Laura’s gaze the entire time.

 

“That was…something,” Laura muttered, seemingly unable to look Carmilla in the eye now that she was sitting next to her again. 

“Mmm, maybe I’ll give you a private demonstration sometime, cupcake.”

Laura’s holding her breath now and she can feel her heartbeat pulse throughout her entire body. Carmilla leaned in close, their shoulders touching over the armrest. She reached towards Laura’s lap, squeezing her hand into the box of sour patch kids. The force caused the edge of the box to press against Laura’s thigh. Laura found it nearly impossible to focus on anything after that. It was especially difficult with Carmilla sharing the armrest. There were far more casual grazes than could possibly be called accidental. 

The movie passed in a blur. Laura was barely paying enough attention to join in on most of the call outs. Her bag of props was left untouched at her feet. The next thing she knew, the movie was over and everyone was being ushered out of the theatre.

“Welp, it’s almost two and I have to be in the lab in about…five? hours. So I’m gonna head home.”

“Yea, I should probably be getting back too.” Laura found herself in the odd in-between state where she’s both incredibly wired but exhausted at the same time. No good decisions could possibly be made when she’s feeling like this. The safest bet would be to go home and either dance until her mind shut off or watch netflix until she passed out. 

“Ok, well we’re heading this way, so get home safe.”

“You too. I’ll call you tomorrow.” 

Laf and Perry started walking towards the PATH train, leaving Laura and Carmilla standing on the corner.

“Are you sure you have to go home, buttercup? No way I could convince you to hang around for a nightcap before bed?”

“Uh, no, definitely not. I’ve learned my lesson. You, me and alcohol are a dangerous combination.”

“Whatever would make you say that?” Carmilla teased.

“Every time I’ve been out drinking with you, I wake up cursing myself, swearing I’ll never drink again.”

Carmilla laughed and Laura couldn’t help but notice the outline of her abs.

“Fair enough, come on, I’ll walk you home.” She turned and started walking towards 8th avenue but stopped when she noticed Laura wasn’t following.

“You can go to the bar, Carmilla. I don’t need you to make sure I get home safely. I’m not some child that needs to be protected.”

“Uh, duh. I had the bruise to prove it for quite a while. Ever consider that maybe I just like your company?”  
“Oh…”

“Yea, oh. Now let’s go, princess”

Laura caught up to Carmilla and the two made their way towards the L. 

“What’s with all of the nicknames anyway?”

“I don’t know, it’s just a thing I do. The fact that it pisses you off so much is just an added bonus.”

Laura shot her a look of disgust, which only caused Carmilla’s grin to widen. They walked the last two blocks to the subway in silence.

 

The two of them stood in the middle of the street between their respective apartments, both shifting their weight and exchanging lingering glances. Laura had always found it easy to get lost in Carmilla’s eyes. At this distance she could see the striations of her iris and it was an entirely new level of distracting. But Carmilla was breaking eye contact, her head was tilted to the side and approaching even closer now. Laura felt herself drawing ever so slightly forward, her eyes fluttering closed. 

“Goodnight, Laura Hollis.” Carmilla had leaned past Laura’s lips and instead whispered directly into her ear.

Laura felt Carmilla’s breath against her neck and a shiver ran down her spine. Carmilla had pulled back with the faint trace of a smirk on her face. She turned away and was already walking towards her apartment building before Laura released a breath that she wasn’t aware she had been holding. A million thoughts were racing through her head. Among them, ‘She used my name. My full name. How the hell does she know my full name?!’

Carmilla disappeared behind the building’s front door when Laura flung her head back to face the night sky. 

“Worst. Crush. Ever.”


End file.
